This editorial reports on a thorough analysis of the abundance and scarcity distribution of chemical elements and the minerals they form in the Earth, Sun, and Universe in connection with their number of neutrons and binding energy per nucleon. On one hand, understanding the elements’ formation and their specific properties related to their electronic and nucleonic structure may lead to understanding whether future solutions to replace certain elements or materials for specific technical applications are realistic. On the other hand, finding solutions to the critical availability of some of these elements is an urgent need. Even the analysis of the availability of scarce minerals from European Union sources leads to the suggestion that a wide-ranging approach is essential. These two fundamental assumptions represent also the logical approach that led the European Commission to ask for a multi-disciplinary effort from the scientific community to tackle the challenge of Critical Raw Materials. This editorial is also the story of one of the first fulcrum around which a wide network of material scientists gathered thanks to the support of the funding organization for research and innovation networks, COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).

The major share of raw materials needed to sustain our present lifestyle and even more importantly, required for the crucial green transition, are sourced outside Europe. The European Commission aims to enhance Europe's resilience and strengthen domestic sourcing. Although Europe has a long tradition of mining and extractive activities, it is acknowledged that there are several challenges to achieve European sourcing of certain raw materials such as the critical raw materials. A basic prerequisite to enable access to domestic raw materials is information on raw material occurrences, current and past mining activities, resources and reserves. The Geological Survey organizations (GSOs) of Europe play a key role in generating, compiling, gathering and storing the most up-to-date information as well as long-term data series on raw materials at national and regional levels. Over the last decade, the GSOs have joined forces and taken essential steps to harmonize and share data on raw materials. The results of this co-operation are illustrated as interactive maps on the European Geological Data Infrastructure (EGDI). This paper describes the data compiled in co-operation between the GSOs, and analyses the strengths and weaknesses of, as well as opportunities for and threats towards, the data.

The vulnerability of economies and the associated familiar lifestyles have led to numerous policy measures in Europe. The proposed Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) sets indicative targets for 2030. A sustainable change in the supply situation requires the targeted exploration of raw materials precisely within the framework of national geological research of suitable detail and in advance of entrepreneurial raw material projects. EU projects like GeoERA assist in shaping the tailor-made exploration programs fit for purpose. GeoERA scientific projects like FRAME and MINDeSEA completed, and updated existing mineral data on CRM are publicly available through EuroGeoSurveys’ European Geological Data Infrastructure (EGDI).

Supply chains are linked for specific purpose and by something. Hence, the respective links of the chain must be hooked in the right place, sufficiently strong, and have to start somewhere. This chapter looks at the raw materials supply chain as the first link in a commodity supply, from the European Union (EU) perspective. Aspects of the raw material potential of critical or strategic mineral resources in Europe, its further exploration, and the concept of modifying factors are considered, and reporting systems of resources and reserves are described, underpinned by examples of mineral potentials in different regions of the EU. Thus, targeted exploration of raw materials, especially within the framework of national geological research, serves to support a sustainable and resilience supply chain. EU projects, such as GeoERA and Geological Service for EU, assist in shaping the tailor-made exploration programs fit for providing mineral data publicly available through EuroGeoSurveys’ European Geological Data Infrastructure. In the future, raw materials may be seen as global public goods required to address many challenges, from the climate crisis to geopolitical instability; therefore, the society could conceptualize them in a new way, from a dominant investment returns-oriented viewpoint to one linked to delivering global objectives.

It is widely accepted that non-energy minerals underpin modern economies since they are essential for manufacturing and renewable energy supply. Europe shows an inevitably growing and accelerated consumption of mineral commodities. The critical question is whether supply to meet these demands is adequate. However, no one can answer this with any certainty because secure supply of mineral RM is a matter of knowing the resources and the ability to exploit them sustainably.Europe’s strive to be become the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050 means implementing the “European Green Deal” by the EU Commission. Measures accompanied with an initial roadmap of key policies range from ambitiously cutting emissions, to investing in cutting-edge research and innovation, to preserving Europe’s natural environment.This green transition is a giant societal leap. However, of the clean and carbon-reducing technologies (e.g. wind turbines, photovoltaic panels, electric and hybrid vehicles), which allow energy production from renewable resources, use significant quantities of metals [e.g. REE, PGE, Nb, Li, Co, In, Ga, V, Te, Se] that are derived or refined from minerals, and of which Europe is strongly import dependent on. The high import dependence of strategic (SRM) and critical raw materials (CRM) has a serious impact on the sustainability of the EU manufacturing industry value chains and key enabling technologies (e.g. renewable energy industry, mobility sector and AI) and significant release of CO2 emissions due to foreign ore transport. Effectively knowing Europe’s subsurface and the potential mineral supplies that can be used in these manufacturing industries can achieve this. We need to calculate the volumes of CRM and SRM metals (e.g. Co, Nb, V, Sb, PGE and REE) and minerals currently not extracted in Europe. We further need to understand how high-tech elements are mobilised, where they occur and why some are associated with specific major industrial metals. This means a renewed and robust focus on advanced exploration for new mineral deposits on land and sea.FRAME(*)[1] addresses most of these concerns by focusing on at least four of the current objectives of the EU Commission: 1- CRM; 2- battery critical elements [graphite, Co, Li]; 3- The circular economy and; 4- the responsible sourcing of metals by combating conflict minerals.With focused work packages, FRAME aims to broadly deliver, 1- a new assessment of the SRM and CRM in Europe; 2- an innovative predictability of where the sourcing of some of these SRM and CRM may come from to reduce dependance on external supply sources, which in some specific metals such as Nb and Ta, fosters the sustainable and responsible supply and; 3- look at case specific sites for the reuse of mineral RM. Data will be made available through a structured data platform. Hence, FRAME is making a significant contribution to aid in the “European Green Deal”, activities such as the Battery Alliance and support legal actions like the new EU "conflict minerals" regulation effective from 1/01/2021. [1] (*) This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement Nº 731166  

Historical and legacy mining waste deposits, such as tailings storage facilities and waste rocks, represent both a potential source of unrecovered critical and non-critical metals as well as a significant environmental challenge in Europe. The EU 2006 Extractive Waste Directive marked the first mandatory step for Member States to monitor mining waste, adopting a risk-based approach following environmental disasters in the 1990s.In the 2010s, EU-funded projects like ProMine and ProSUM began mapping these deposits and developing a first pan-European database. National, federal and regional initiatives contributed to the multi-actor data collection and dissemination process. More recently, the EU-funded GeoERA programme and particularly the FRAME and MINTELL4EU projects further designed and established the MIN4EU database. This is now the reference pan-European resource, compiling information on mineral deposits and anthropogenic resources, including mining waste. However, until recently, updated datasets were not publicly accessible in a centralised and user-friendly format.The FutuRaM project (Future Availability of Secondary Raw Materials – futuram.eu), in collaboration with GSEU (Geological Service for Europe – geologicalservice.eu) which associates thirty-seven geological surveys in Europe, aims to map and share data on the potential of critical raw materials in historical mining waste across the continent. Both projects have accelerated the collection and cataloguing of mining waste data. This effort is aligned with the Critical Raw Materials Act (Article 27), which requires EU Member States to establish a database of closed and abandoned extractive waste facilities, excluding sites where recoverable quantities of critical raw materials are unlikely. The database includes: (1) Location, area, and waste volume; (2) Operator information; (3) Quantities and concentrations of raw materials; (4) Additional relevant data for recovery.The mining waste section of the MIN4EU database is now publicly accessible via the EGDI (European Geological Data Infrastructure – www.europe-geology.eu/) portal and the Urban Mine Platform (www.urbanmineplatform.eu/) developed within FutuRaM. Currently, it covers mining waste data from 20+ European countries. Gaps may exist due to limited historical mining activity or incomplete inventories, but the database remains dynamic, linked to national geological surveys and mining authorities. It is open to new contributions to better appraise the potential source of unrecovered critical and non-critical metals. The communication will present the structure of this database and showcase data access via the Urban Mine Platform.FutuRaM is funded by the European Union (GA 101058522).